With more and more investors willing to cash in on companies working in the creator industry and helping content creators to grow and monetize their audience, the total funding amount in this market more than tripled in five years, rising from around $2bn to nearly $7bn. The US companies raised almost 60% of that value.
According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, US content creator companies raised over $4bn in cumulative funding, or 60% more than their European and Asia peers combined.
More than $1.4B Raised in 2022, the Record Year for Funding
Over the past few years, the number of bloggers, social media influencers, podcasters, TikTokers, and YouTubers has exploded on a global scale. Still, the United States remained the world’s largest creator market.
According to Crunchbase data, 5,065 content creator companies worldwide are now providing digital tools and services for content creators to operate and monetize their audience. Around 40% of them are based in the United States. Statistics show the number of US content creator companies hit 1,992 this year, with California as the leading hub. Europe is the second-largest market, with 1,468 companies working in the creator industry. Asia follows, with 828 companies operating in this market.
Besides outnumbering their European and Asian peers, the US companies have also raised more fresh capital for their business. Statistics show the cumulative funding of the US content creator companies more than doubled in the past five years, rising from $1.2bn in 2018 to $4bn in Q2 2023. Most of that value, or around $1.4bn, was raised in 2022, the record year for content creators’ funding.
European companies have raised seven times less than that, or around $542 million, as of Q2 2023. Although Asia has almost twice as few content creator companies as Europe, Asian companies have also raised much more money in funding rounds, or $1.9bn, so far.
Investment Activity in the European Market Jumped 340% YTD, US and Asian Markets See a Slowdown
Although European content creator companies are far behind their US and Asian peers when looking at the cumulative funding amount, the investment activity in the European market increased in 2023, while the two other regions saw a slowdown.
The Crunchbase data showed European companies raised around $137 million in five months of the year or 340% more than in the same period a year ago. US companies hit around $100 million in funding rounds between January and May, down from a massive $1.2bn raised in the year-ago period. The investment activity in the Asian market also significantly slowed down, with the cumulative funding amount remaining the same for the past five months, compared to the $200 million they raised between January and May last year.
